Metallic Fuel Fabrication Process Development in Remote Fuel Fabrication Mock-Up at KAERI

Table 1

Remote operation tasks and remote handling systems for metallic fuel slug fabrication.

Major process for remote fabrication	Remote operation tasks	Remote handling systems to be used
		MSM	Crane	Viewing window	Movable camera	Tools
Preparation	- Breaking vacuum inside ICF; - Loosening ring connectors to separate upper; chamber from the lower chamber of ICF	O		O		O
		- Opening ring connectors in left and right directions to secure room for lifting the upper chamber upwards	O		O
	- Separating and lifting the upper chamber from the lower chamber and moving it onto mold housing nearby	O		O
	Transferring and positioning crucible into IF (step 1 in Figure 6)	- Placing hanger in crane hook	O	O	O		O
- Connecting open-end of hanger to crucible cap; - Transferring and placing crucible cap onto top of crucible filled with input materials and covering crucible with it		O	O	O		O
		- Transferring and loading crucible covered with crucible cap onto spiral-shaped high frequency induction coil located inside lower chamber (see Figure 7)	O	O	O	O	O
- Removing crucible cap from the top of crucible (see Figure 8)		O	O	O	O	O
- Covering top of crucible with furnace cap installed inside the lower chamber		O		O	O
Loading and transferring of empty quartz mold assembly (steps 2 and 3 in Figure 6)		- Loading mold assembly with empty quartz molds located inside mold housing onto center of interior bottom side of the upper chamber (see Figure 9)	O		O	O
	- Moving upper chamber with empty quartz mold assembly into the lower chamber; - Closing upper chamber and tightening upper and lower chambers of ICF	O		O		O
		Casting (step 4 in Figure 6)	- Opening furnace cap when input materials in crucible are sufficiently melted at desired temperature	O		O
- Casting inside ICF completed electrically by manual operation
Retrieval of cast quartz mold assembly (step 5 in Figure 6)	- After completing injection casting in ICF, following same steps as in “preparation” to separate and lift upper chamber with cast quartz mold assembly from the lower chamber; - Moving the upper chamber onto mold housing and unloading cast quartz mold assembly into mold housing	O		O	O	O
		Retrieval of used crucible (step 7 in Figure 6)	- Placing hanger in crane hook and connecting open-end of hanger to crucible cap; - Transferring crucible cap to top of used crucible located inside lower chamber and covering used crucible with it; - Transferring used crucible with crucible cap outside ICF	O	O	O	O	O